By Christine L. Bordelon, Kenner bureau
Kathy du Treil knew how uplifted her spirits were once she refurbished the garden at her Kenner home that Hurricane Katrina destroyed. After learning that her neighbor Capt. Octavio Gonzalez, a 14-year St. John the Baptist sheriff’s deputy, recently had been shot and killed while on duty in LaPlace, she thought she could do the same for his wife, Gloria Gonzalez, and their two sons, Alexander and Bryson.
DuTreil’s efforts for the Gonzalez family began in earnest with a few phone calls and an alert to employees of the Kenner Police Department, where she works as director of the traffic safety program.
“All I really wanted to do was finish spreading the mud and plant some grass to finish her yard,” duTreil said, explaining how she noticed a truckload of mud sitting in the Gonzalez’s front yard that was to have been spread the weekend after he was shot. “It was a like a chain letter. I told one person, and they told 10 people, and they told 10, and it just multiplied.”
On June 24, more than 100 volunteers from area police departments and sheriff’s offices, Louisiana state police, businesses in St. John and Kenner, neighbors, and friends and relatives of the family united to beautify the Gonzalezes’ front and back yards.
“You just come together in tragic situations,” said Connie Taormina, an administrative assistant with the Kenner Police Department. “Law enforcement is a big family and knows no boundaries. Whether you know them personally or not, it’s part of your family, and you gotta take care of your family.”
Throughout the day, volunteers dug up old plants and trees and planted new shrubbery, installed a sprinkler and a subsurface drainage system; built, painted and wired a clubhouse for the two Gonzalez boys complete with walkie-talkies, camouflage clothing and other gear and installed a monitoring system for Gloria Gonzalez to watch her sons in the playhouse; installed a fountain donated by neighbors; and erected two flagpoles with American flags flown at half staff.
Neighbors all agreed what a wonderful family man, friend and neighbor Octavio “Ox” Gonzales was.
“I lost my best friend,” neighbor Dale Kessler said. “We did everything together. There’s not a house on the block that he (Ox) doesn’t have a part of. He did flooring, everything . . . Gloria’s going to be happy to see the support that everybody came together for them.”
Still to come: donated concrete garden curbing from Concrete Nouveau Inc. and more grass and mulch.
DuTreil said other donations came from Perret’s Army Surplus, Lynne Dimm’s, Quiznos, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, Italian Pie, Walgreen’s, Donut Hole in LaPlace, an EMS unit from East Jefferson General Hospital, employees from the East Jefferson Levee District, Direct Source, Alligator Irrigation, Jefferson Feed, Hair Works in LaPlace, All Year-Round Landscaping in LaPlace, Wal-Mart and Home Depot which donated a garden set, plants, mulch, paver stones, an air conditioner for the clubhouse and more.
“It was amazing, the manpower and the donations,” duTreil said. “Her yard is gorgeous. It’s like something to see in a magazine.”
When Gonzalez drove up to her home after spending the day celebrating the birthday of one of her sons, duTreil said her reaction was one of delight.
“She kept saying, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God. I love it. Ox would love this. He would be so happy,’ ” duTreil said.
“A lot of people just jumped on the bandwagon,” duTreil said, satisfied with the finished product. “It was good to help. She had a big smile, and that’s the first time I’ve seen her smile since it (the death of Gonzalez) happened.”
Copyright 2006 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company
Times-Picayune (New Orleans)